Weaving loom



April 15 1924. 1,490,749 E. LAMBERT ET AL WEAVING LOOM Filed April 11. 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet l April 15 1924.

E. LAMBERT ET AL WEAVING LOOM Filed April 11. 1922 4 sheets-sheet 2 Wwe 1 M AM I April 15 {1924, 1,490,749

' E. LAMBERT ET AL wmvme Loom Filed April 11. 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet "a EQTTJ April 15- 1924.

E. LAMBERT ET AL WEAVING LOOM 7 Filed April 11 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Apr. 15, 1924.

EDOUARD LAMBERT, or PARIS, RENE PEBNIN, or LA PLAINE sr-nnms, AND PAUL PATENT GFFECE.

GHEVALIER, .OF PAR-IS, FRANCE.

WEAVING- LOOIVI.

Application filed April 11, 1922. serial No. 551,553.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, EDOUARD LAMBERT, RENE PERNIN, and PAUL OHEVALIER, citizens of the Republic of France, residing at the first, 63 Rue de Rome, Paris, Seine, France; the second, 249 Avenue de Paris, La Plaine St.-Denis, Seine, France, and the third, 37 Rue Galile, Paris, Seine, France,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Weaving Looms, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to weaving looms 5 of the kind in which the movements of the shuttle are positively controlled and which comprise two shuttle-holder arms which, being given a reciprocating rectilineal movement causing them to withdraw from and to to the shuttle from one holder to the other at the instant of their meeting in the middle of the shed.

The shuttle-holder arms in known looms have been provided with mechanical means intended to seize and to release the shuttle when passing from one to the other.

Such means usually comprise complicated combinations of cams and levers or mechanisms known under the name of railway mechanism, analogous to those met with in printing machines, mechanisms the function of which is to convert a uniform circular movement into a reciprocating rectilinear movement. In the latter case the shuttle, which is carried by each of the shuttle-holders over the whole length of the stroke executes, outside the edges of the fabric, a to and fro movement in the course of which are produced the tightening of the weft and the inversion of the Warp threads. A certain length of the weft thread is, therefore, uselessly unrolled and is liable to knot or to catch on one of the loom parts and produce stoppages. Moreover, the mechanical members carried by each shuttleholder for engaging or releasing the shuttle alternately are, in general extremely complicated and are not very suitable for high speed.

The object of the present invention is to provide a loom of the kind referred to with an electro-i agnetic device, which is correlated with each of the shuttle-holder arms approach each other periodically, transfer and is adapted to engage or release the shuttle at suitable moments, the device being characterized not only by its simplicity and i very quiet functioning, but by the fact that,

to cause the shuttle to be alternately connected wlth each of the holders, by reason of the contact or engagement of polar pieces carried by the frameof the shuttle with the cores of electro-magnets mounted on the shuttle-holder arms. A suitable rotary distributor regulates the periods and duration of the passage of the electric current into the said electro-magnets, the energizing and I deenergizing of which should be so timed as to secure a proper engagement and disengagement of the shuttle.

Associated with this electro-magnetic device may be a mechanical device intended to prevent the shuttle from falling on the warp threads in case of a failure of the current or in any other eventuality.

By modifying the construction of the aforesaid rotary distributor, the device may be applied to different types of looms with positively-controlled shuttles, and whatever may be the mechanism employed for actuating the shuttle-holder arms, the device permits of making the shuttle traverse, beyond the edges of the fabric, only a distance that is strictly necessary.

By way of example, the electro-magnetic device will be shown as applied 1. To a loom utilizing the so-called railway mechanism and in which the shuttleholder arms leave the shuttle in rest boxes during the travel of the arms outside or beyond the edges of the fabric; the rest boxes may, however, be replaced by a revolving drum or by any other suitable device for changing the shuttle.

2. To a loom using a mechanism which is analogous to that used in certain printing machines, and converts a continuous circular movement into an interrupted reciprocating rectilinear movement, so that the shuttle-holder arms do not travel uselessly outside the edges of the fabric and leave the shuttle only in the middle of the fabric in order to effect the exchange between them.

3. To a loom of the aforesaid class which carries a revolving drum for effecting the changes of the weft threads.

In the annexed drawings, given by way of example, and representing diagrammati cally the device which is the object of the invention c Fig. 1 is an elevation of a loom provided with the socalled railway mechanism, in which the shuttle-holder arms are in their extreme outward position, the shuttle being left in one of the two lateral rest boxes.

Fig. 2 shows the same loom at the in st-ant in which the two shuttle-holders are changing the shuttle in the centre of the fabric. I

Fig. 3 is a perspective of'one of the shuttle-holders and the corresponding rest box.

Fig. 4: is a perspective of the shuttle itself.

Figs. 5 and 6 show the latter in end elevation and in cross section, respectively.

Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section of the extremity of the shuttle-holder arm.

Fig. 8 is a perspective of one of the rest boxes. 7 V

Fig. 9 shows a structural modification of the current distributor.

Figs. '10 and 11 show, in positions analogous to those shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a loom provided with a driving mechanism for the shuttle-holder arms, such that these perform no useless travel outside the edges of the fabric and leave the shuttle at no other point than in the centre of the fabric.

Fig. 12 shows a detailofthe preceding loom when it comprises the use of a revolving drum for changing the shuttles.

In the loom shown diagrammatically in Figs. 1 and 2, the shuttle-holder arms 1 and iii 2 are actuated by the soc-alled railway mechanism, which comprises two toothed wheels 3 and l set in motion by any suitable motor device.

These wheels serve as cranks for two connecting rods 5 and 6 which transmit to the axles of the pinions 7 and 8 the uniform circular motion of the wheels 3 and 1 in the form of alternating rectilinear movement.

By the agency of the fixed racks 9 and 10, andthe racks 11 and 12 connected, respectively, with the shuttle-holders 1 and 2, the toothed wheels 7 and 8 transmit their movement to the aforesaid shuttleholders.

The last-named, the general form of which is shown in Fig. 3, may be guided in their displacement by bars 13 arranged on the loom in a suitable manner.

Each of the shuttle-holder arms ends in a tubular enlargement or socket 1d, the shape of which corresponds to that of the end of the shuttle. At the bottom of this socket is arranged an electro-magnet 15, the core 16 of which is co -axial with the shuttle-carrying arm. The conducting wires 17 leave the said electro-magnet in a suitable manner, for instance by winding themselves around the shuttle-carrying arm and extending thence to the distributor and to the source of the electric exciting current.

In order to prevent the wires from causing trouble in the course of their continual to and fro movements they may pass along an articulated device comprising, for example, a knee-piece 18, levers 19, 20, 21, the last of which turns about a distant centre, so that the deflection of the movement of the said knee-piece 18 may not be too considerable, with, if necessary, a compensating spring to keep the thread constantly taut.

The shuttle 22 consists in a frame of suitable shape, the two soft iron ends 23 and 24 of which constitute the polar pieces by which is effected the adhesion of the shuttle to the core 16 of the electro-magnet 15 of one or other of the shuttle-holders.

As already stated, the rectilinear movement of the shuttle-holders being interrupted, it is necessary-in order to leave time for effecting the tightening of theweft and the formation of the shedto give the said movement of the shuttle-holders an amplitude greater than half the width of the fabric. To prevent the shuttle from covering an additional path, in the course of which the weft would be uselessly unrolled, the shuttle, after the passage of each weft thread, comes to rest in one or other of the. fixed boxes 25 and 26.

These boxes are placed on either side of the loom, outside the edges of the fabric and in immediate proximity to them. They have a longitudinal slot 27, intended to permit the passage of the upright support 28 of the shuttle-holder arm (Fig. 3), the latter, in order to reduce the lateral dimension of the loom to a minimum, being adapted to approach as near as possible to the corresponding edge of the fabric.

Each rest box carries, in addition, a. num ber of longitudinal grooves 29, for instance, three grooves, extending over a part of the length of the box, from the end face of the latter adjacent to the fabric selvage to points indicated by 30 in the drawings.

The ends 30 of these grooves serve as abutments for corresponding projections 31, placed on the shuttle 22. The object of this arrangement is to effect the disengagement of the shuttle from each of the shuttle-holders 1 and 2 and to bring about its stoppage inthe interior of the boxes 25 and 26.

hese sameprojections 31, when the shuttle 1s connected with one of the shuttle-holders, engage in corresponding recesses 32 of the socket piece 14 of the said,shuttle-holders.

The electro-magnets 15 are excited at delinite times and for definite periods by means of an electric current proceeding from any appropriate source 33 and traversing a suit able distributor. The latter may be of the rotary type shown diagrammatically in Figs. 1 and 2. In this (listrilfiutor the turmng con tact closes, successively, the circuit between the circular contact 35, connected both to the source 33 and to the two electro-magnets, and the contacts 37, 38, .39 and 40, connected as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, viz 37 and 39 to the electro-n'iagnet of the arm 1, "S and to that of the arm The rotation of the contact 34 is controlled, for instance, by the shaft- 36 of the wheel 3 of the so-called railway mechanism. Since, for a complete rotation of the shaft there, in the case shown, is an advance and return of the shuttle-holder arms and, consequently a passage of single weft thread, it is neces sary that the shaft 36 should perform two complete revolutions in the course of a complete cycle of movement of the shuttle. The

contact 34 having to execute only one revolution during the same period, the parts which transmit the movement of the shaft 36 to the contact 34 should, between them. reduce the speed of rotation in the ratio of 2:1.

Moreover, in order that the times and periods of contact and of the breaking of the current maybe precisely determined, the contacts 37, 38, 39 and 40 may be of varying length, adjustable at will.

The device functions as follows The different parts being in the position shown in Fig. 1, the shuttle 22 rests in the box 25, the arms 1 and 2 are at the end of their strokes outside the loom and the con-- tact 34 is in such a position that the two electro-magnets are not excited. Shortly before the socket part 14 of the arm 1 arrives in the box 25, the contact 34 begins to rub on the contact 39; the current traverses the electroniagnet of the arm 1 so that, as soon as this arm strikes the shuttle, the latter adheres to it by electro-magnetic contact.

The shuttle 22, being then well engaged in the socket 14 of the arm 1, leaves the box 25 and begins its travel to the interior of the shed. After issuing from the box 25 and at the moment when the contact 34 leaves the contact 39, the current ceases to excite the electro-magnet; the shuttle becomes free in the interior of the bush 14 and continues its stroke propelled by the arm 1.

An instant before the arrival of the two arms at the dead centre of their travel, the contact 34 begins to rub on the contact 38 and the current traverses the electro-magnet ot the arm 2. The distance between the polar piece 24 of the shuttle and the core of the 'electro-magnet of the arm 2 rapidly diminishing, the attraction of the arm 2 increases until the shuttle, at the instant of the meeting and stoppage of the two arms, adheres to the bottom of the socket 14 of the shuttleholder 2 by electro-magnetic contact (Fig. 2). The shuttle, thus engaged and held, leaves the arm 1 and is carried along by the arm 2. l/Vhen the shuttle engages in the box 26, the current is cut 011 from the electromagnet of the arm 2, the contact 34 having left the contact 38. The shuttle thus released from the action which connected it with the arm 2, impinges, by means of its projections 31, on the ends of the grooves 29 and comes to rest in the box 26. The arm 2 continues its course towards the right without any current traversing its electro-magnet; it then returns, the same operations succeeding each other as before, the arm 2 acting the part or" the arm 1, the contact the part of the contact 39 and the contact 37 the part of the contact 38.

To obviate the detrimental efiects due to remanence, use may be made of a rotary reversible distributor, such as that shown in Fig. 9.

To each of the contacts 37, 38, 33), 40, is added a. contact 37, 38, 39, 40, while the continuous contact 35 is divided into contacts 35, 35 and 35", the connections being those shown in the said figure.

In this manner, immediately after the current has been cut oil from an electro magnet, it is replaced for a very short period by an inverse current which instantaneously destroys the effects due to remanence.

To prevent all accidents due to the accidental failure of current or to any other cause, the apparatus may be provided with a mechanical locking device. Referring to Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, this device consists in a hook 41 of suitable shape, carried by a laminated spring 42 fixed to each of the sockets 14 of the shuttle-holders.

This hook traverses an opening 43 of the socket and is adapted to engage a suitable flange 44 or 45 on the shuttle 22, after having passed over the ramped part 46 carefully formed on the shuttle. The hook 41 has a nose that is so shaped that it will easily disengage when the shuttle is to pass from one to the other of the arms 1 and 2, or is to stop in the interior of the boxes 25 or 26, leaving the shuttle free to obey the magnetic actions of the electro-magnets or stoppages by abut- 11161013 on the ends of the aforesaid grooves.

Moreover, in order that the two hooks may not leave the shuttle at the same time or hold it with the same force, in the event of the current failing exactly at the instant in which the two shuttle-holders are chang ing over or transferring the shuttle at the dead centre of their travel, one of the hooks has a strength superior to that of the other.

Then in this eventuality the Weaker hook yields and the stronger one carries along the shuttle without its being possible for the latter to fall on to the warp threads.

In an arrangement provided with a locking device, the functioning is essentially the same as that described above, with this peculiarity that at the moment of the passage of the shuttle from one of the arms to the other, one of the hooks yields in order to release the shuttle whilst the other engages it, and that at the instant of the stoppage of the shuttle in the rest boxes the hook of the cor responding arm lifts to leave the shuttle. In order that the necessary play for this displacement of the hook may be present in the interior of the rest boxes, a longitudinal groove 17 is arranged along the whole length of the latter.

In the loom shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the two boxes 25 and 26 are supposed to be fixed, but, as is shown diagrammatical y in Fig. 1, one of the rest boxes, 26 for example, (or both), may form part of a shuttle distributor effecting, automatically or otherwise, the changing of the shuttle.

The device, the object of the invention, diminishes remarkably the noise due, in the ordinary looms, either to the repeated'shocks of the shuttle or to the multiplicity of mechanical parts.

The noise may be further reduced by arranging suitable silencersbetween the shuttle and the socket of each of the shuttleholders. These silencers may be arranged either inside the socket or on the body of the shuttle itself, or on the polar pieces. provided that their thickness does not check the eiiect of the'electro-magnetic actions.

In the loom shown in Figs. 10 and 11, the shuttle remains connected with one or the other of the shuttle-holders throughout the length and during the whole period of its travel and leaves a holder only at the instant of exchanging holders in the centre of the fabric. The mechanism which actuates the shuttle-holder arms is such that the latter do not perform any additional travel outside the fabric. but is such, however, that they remain outside the edges of the fabric for an appreciable time, in the course of which the tightening of the weft and the inversion of the warp threads are efiected.

This mechanism, symmetrical in relation to the axis of the loom, carries two toothed wheels 48 and 49 rotating in contrary direction and serving as cranks for two rods 50 and 51. V

The rod 50 is pivoted at 53 on a lever 52 which turns by one of its ends about a fixed point 5a. The other end of the lever 52 is pivoted at 55 on a lever 56, which is connected to a pinion 57. The latter rolls on a fixed horizontal rack 58. It is easy to see that if the rack 58 were of sufficient length the pinion 57 would be impelled by a continu ously reciprocating rectilinear movement. Atone point of its periphery the pinion 57 carries a roller 59, of which the axis of rotation is perpendicular to the plane of the pinion. Upon the axis of this roller is piv-' oted the end of a lever 60, the other end of which is connected to the shuttle-holder arm 61.

The rack 58 ends at a suitable point in a recess 62 in the shape of a semi-circular bearing adapted to receive the roller 59. The respective dimensions of the different parts of this mechanism are such that when the toothed wheel 48 has described a partial revolution equal, for instance, to g of the circumference, the roller 59, which has described a cycloid, proceeds to drop into its recess 62 along the vertical tangent at the stationary point of the cycloid. The wheel 48 continuing to turn, the levers 52 and 56 tend to cause the continuation of the rolling of the pinion 57 on the rack 58, but, the roller 59 being stationary in the recess 62, the centre of the pinion 57 has a movement of rotation around the roller 59. During this last phase of the movement of the pinion 57 the lever 60 and, consequently, the shuttleholder 61, remain motionless. hat has just been stated applies in all respects to the other shuttle-holder 63.

The result of the functioning of this mechanism is that the travel of the shuttleholder arms can be strictly limited so that the shuttle 64 just misses the edges of the fabric 65. In this case, the use of rest boxes is unnecessary and the shuttle may remain in connection with the shuttle-holder arms during their travel outside the fabric.

The electro-magnetic device for seizing the shuttle comprises, as before, two electromagnets 65 and 66 lodged in the sockets of the two shuttle-holders, a suitable source of electricity 67 and a current distributor 68. The last-named is simplified and comprises no more than two exterior contacts 69 and 70, respectively connected to each of the electro-magnets, while the circular interior contact 71 is connected both to the two electro-magnets and to the current source. The rotary contact 72 is actuated, by the wheel 49 through a 2 to 1 reduction gear.

The functioning of the loom is in this case simpler thanin the preceding case, the current being led into and'cut off from each magnet only once in the course of a to and fro movement of each of the shuttle-holder arms and these makes and breaks occurring only at the instant when the arms are changing the shuttle in the centre of the loom.

The sockets of the shuttle-holder arms may be provided with locking devices analogous to those previously described.

In looms of the kind which has just been described it is also possible to provide for the use of a revolving drum shuttle distributor (see Fig. 12) or any other suitable device for changing the shuttle. In the arrangement in Fig. 12, the shuttle 73 should be adapted, while outside the edges of the fabric, to leave the shuttle-holder arm 74 and the latter should withdraw from the shuttle by a space sufficiently large to permit the rotation of the distributing drum.

The mechanism should be constructed to permit a slightly longer stroke for the shuttle-holders, and the current distributor used should be of the type shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The latter arrangement will show this additional advantage over the arrangement shown in Figs. 1 and 2, that the stopping and starting of the shuttle in the pockets of the distributor will be effected with an almost imperceptible shock. As the shut tie-holders withdraw a very little way from the distributor, their speed at the moments indicated is practically almost nil.

It should, moreover, be noted that in all the aforesaid arrangements there may be used a reversible current distributor, analogous to that shown in Fig. 9, intended to eliminate the effects due to remanence.

-What we claim is:

1. A weaving loom having, in combination, two shuttle holders, one on each side of the loom, means for reciprocating said .olders simultaneously towards and from the center of the shed, and electromagnetic means for transferring the shuttle from one holder to the other when said holders approach the limits of their movements towards the center of the shed.

2. A weaving loom having, in combination, two shuttle holders, each including an electromagnet, a shuttle adapted to act as an armature for each magnet, means for reciprocating said holders simultaneously towards and from the center of the shed, and switch mechanism operated by said means controlling the energization of said magnets, so as to effect the transfer of said shuttle from one holder to the other when said holders approach the limits of their movements towards the center of the shed.

3. A weaving loom having, in combina tion, two shuttle holders each comprising an electromagnet, a shuttle having soft iron ends adapted to coact with said electromagnets, means for reciprocating said holders simultaneously towards and from the center of the shed, and switch mechanism operatedv by said means controlling the energiza tion of said magnets, whereby when said holders approach the limits of their inward movements the electromagnet of the holder carrying the shuttle is deenergized while the electromagnet of the empty holder is energized.

4*. A weaving loom having, in combination, two shuttle holders, one on each side of the loom, means for reciprocating said holders simultaneously towards and from the center of the shed, suitable rest boxes arranged in the path of said holders adjacent the edge of the fabric adapted to receive the shuttle, each of said holders comprising an electro-magnetic clutch adapted to hold the shuttle, and switch mechanism operated by said means for controlling said clutches.

5. A weaving loom having, in combination, two shuttle holders, one on each side of the loom, and each comprising an electromagnet, a shuttle having soft iron ends adapted to coact with said electromagnets, means for reciprocating said holders simultaneously towards and from the center of the shed, suitable rest boxes arranged in the path of said holders. adjacent the edges of the fabric adapted to receive the shuttle, said boxes having internal longitudinal grooves opening inwardly and said shuttle having projections adapted to be received by said grooves to guide said shuttle and limit the outward movement thereof, and switch mechanism for controlling said electromagnets operated by said means.

6. A weaving loom having in combination, two shuttle holders, one on each side of the loom, means for reciprocating said holders simultaneously towards and from the center of the shed and causing said holders to dwell a substantial time at the outer limits of their movements, and electromagnetic means for transferring the shuttle from one holder to the other when said holders approach the inner limits of their movements.

7. A weaving loom having in combination. two shuttle holders, each comprising an electromagnet, a shuttle having soft iron ends adapted to coact with said electromagnets, means for reciprocating said holders simultaneously towards and from the center of the shed and causing said holders to dwell a substantial time at the outer limits of their movements, and switch mechanism operated by said means controlling the energization of said magnets so that when said holders approach the limits of their inward movements the electromagnet of the holder carrying the shuttle is deenergized while the electromagnet of the empty holder is energized.

8. A weaving loom having, in combination, two shuttle holders, a shuttle interchangeable between the two holders, driving mechanism for each holder comprising a toothed wheel, a stationary rack engaged by said wheel, means for reciprocating said wheel on said rack, an eccentric pin on said wheel a link connection between said pin and said holder, and a socket at the outer end of said rack adapted to receive said pin to cause a dwell in the movement of said holder, said holders each comprising an electromagnet, and said shuttle having a polar piece at each end thereof, and switch mechanism operated my said driving mechanism for controlling said electromagnets, whereby when the holders approach the limits of their inward movements that holder carrying the shuttle has its magnet deenergized while the magnet of the other holder is energized.

9. A weaving loom having, in combina tion, two shuttle holders, a shuttle interchangeable between the two holders, means for reciprocating said holders simultaneously towards and from the center of the shed,

each of said holders comprising an electromagnet and said shuttle having an armature at each end adapted to coact with said electromagnets and each holder also comprising an inipositive mechanical holding device for the shuttle which is adapted to retain the shuttle independently of the associated mag- 53 net, but which is adapted to yield and permit disengagement of the shuttle under the attractive force of the other magnet, and switch mechanism operated by said means controlling the energization of said. magnets.

10. A weaving loom having, in combination, two shuttle holders, a shuttle interchangeable between the two holders, means for reciprocating said holders synchronousl towards and from the center of the she each of said holders comprising an electromagnet and said shuttle havingan armature at each end adapted to coact with said electromagnets, and each. of said holders also comprising a spring hook adapted to engage the shuttle with sufficient force to. hold it independently of the associated magnet when the latter is deenergized, said hook adapted to yield and permit disengagement of the shuttle under the attractive force of the other magnet, one of said hooks being stronger than the other, and switch mechan ism operated by said reciprocating means for controlling the energization of said mag nets.

In testimony whereof we hereunto afiix our signatures.

EDOUARD LAMBERT. RENE PERNIN. PAUL CHEVALIER.

Witness:

JEAN LAFOREST. 

